Ford Custom
Encyclopedia
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
both in the United States and Canada from the 1930s to 1972.
For the 1949 model year, the Custom nameplate was used for the top trim level in Ford's range of automobiles.. It was part of the completely new redesign of Ford cars after the war. In 1950, it had a 114" wheelbase and was 196.8"long. For 1950 the name was changed to Custom Deluxe and then to Customline
1952 Ford
The Ford line of cars was again refreshed for 1952, although remaining similar to the all-new 1949 Fords. This time, curved one-piece windshield glass joined a new "Mileage Maker" straight-6 engine with 101hp...
for 1952 when it moved to the midrange position between the new Mainline
Ford Mainline
The Ford Mainline is an automobile which was produced by the Ford Motor Company in the United States in the models years 1952 to 1956. It was introduced as the base trim level of the 1952 Ford range below the Customline and Crestline models...
and Crestline models.
The Custom name returned for the 1957 model year along with a new Custom 300 series, these two models sitting below the Fairlane and Fairlane 500. The Custom 300 became the base model for 1958, but was dropped from the range for 1960.
The Custom name reappeared again for 1964 and the Custom 500 nameplate made its debut the same year. While the Custom 500 was a slight step up, the Custom was again the stripped, no-frills trim level of the full-sized Fords. Most Customs were sold to police and taxi fleets during the 1960s, although anyone who wanted basic, no-frills transportation with the convenience of a full-sized car could purchase one.
The Ford Custom and Custom 500 nameplates were dropped after the 1972 model year, although the Custom 500 was revived in 1975 and sold primarily to taxi, police, and fire fleet customers.
Australian production
The Ford Custom was also produced in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
from 1949 to 1952, offered as the Fordor and the Utility. The former was a 4 door sedan and the latter a 2 door coupe utility
Coupé utility
The coupé utility automobile body style, also known colloquially as the ute in Australia and New Zealand, combines a two-door "coupé" cabin with an integral cargo bed behind the cabin—using a light-duty passenger vehicle-derived platform....
developed by Ford Australia
Ford Australia
Ford Australia is the Australian subsidiary of Ford Motor Company and was founded in Geelong, Victoria, in 1925 as an outpost of Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited. At that time, Ford Canada was a separate company from Ford USA...
. Australian content on the locally produced Custom had reached 80% by 1950.
The 1959 model North American Custom 300 was also produced by Ford Australia
Ford Australia
Ford Australia is the Australian subsidiary of Ford Motor Company and was founded in Geelong, Victoria, in 1925 as an outpost of Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited. At that time, Ford Canada was a separate company from Ford USA...
from September 1959. Offered only as a four door sedan and only with a 332 cu in (5.4 l) V8 engine, it was given a mild makeover in late 1960 which included the grille design from the 1959 Canadian Meteor. The facelifted model continued in production through to 1962.
Ford Custom 500
The Ford Custom 500 is a car model name that was used by the Ford Motor Company both in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
from 1964 to 1978. It usually came equipped with a small block V8 engine
V8 engine
A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft....
(289 cid in the early years, up to 351 by the mid- to late-1970s).
The Custom 500 nameplate represented a slightly better trimmed version of the low-priced, economy models of Ford's full-sized car range, which also included the Ford Galaxie 500
Ford Galaxie
The Ford Galaxie was a full-size car built in the United States by the Ford Motor Company for model years 1959 through 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford’s full-size range from 1959 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the excitement surrounding the Space Race...
and LTD
Ford LTD
The Ford LTD was a car produced by the Ford Motor Company in North America. A range of full-size cars wore various forms of the LTD nameplate from 1965 to 1991 in the United States...
. Most customers of this model purchased them for taxi and police fleets, although the car appealed to many private customers who wanted a no frills
No frills
No-frills or no frills is a term used to describe any service or product for which the non-essential features have been removed to keep the price low. The use of the term "frills" refers to a style of fabric decoration...
automobile with a lot of seating room and the power of a V-8 engine. The name survived in Canada until 1981 on a low priced version of the then current Ford LTD.
A brown 1971 Custom 500 4-door sedan with a blue interior, equipped with a 429 Police Interceptor/Cobra Jet engine and black steel wheels with Cooper Tire Wide Runner Polyglas tires, appeared in the 1973 Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
film White Lightning and is perhaps the most famous Custom 500 ever. Unusually, scenes of the movie depict the cars (several were wrecked during filming, including the barge jumping scene) with either a manual or automatic transmissions.
Ford Custom 300
Ford also produced a Custom 300 model from 1957 to 1959, this being the lower-middle range series above the bargain-priced Custom series in its first year and the base trim level for the final two years..Police Forces ordered up many 1974-1978 Custom 500 (POLICE PACKAGES), motors ranged from 351M's to 460 Police Interceptors.